Saturday, May 26, 2012

-Britain's fattest teenager Georgia Davis, 19, had 'settled night' in hospital-It took the 30-strong team almost eight hours to get her to an ambulance-Friends leave messages of support and say she was 'stressed' by the ordeal-Rescuers built a bridge to carry her and had a crane ready if it was needed

By Luke Salkeld

A 63-stone girl who had to be rescued from her own home has been fed a diet of junk food and fizzy drinks by her mother, it emerged last night.

Georgia Davis, 19, needed urgent care on Thursday but had to wait eight hours as walls were knocked down before she could be carried from her home into an ambulance.

The operation to cut into her home cost emergency workers an estimated £100,000.

She is due to remain in hospital over the weekend while doctors continue to test her for medical complaints including diabetes, kidney disease, spinal problems and respiratory failure.

Rescued: Georgia, 19, from Aberdare, South Wales, is Britain's fattest teenager weighing around 63 stoneHer mother Lesley has previously spoken of her guilt over the teenager’s obesity.

Neighbours of the family in Aberdare, South Wales, said it was the 57-year-old who bought Georgia’s food.

One said: ‘Lesley does the shopping for the family on a regular basis just like any other mother going to the supermarket.

‘Georgia lives on processed ready-meals, sandwiches and packs of peanuts and crisps. She is also partial to sausages, pasties, chips, chocolate and chunks of cheese with bottles of coke or pints of milk.’

A 10ft by 10ft space was cut into to the top floor of the house in Aberdare, South Wales, so that the emergency services could remove 19-year-old Georgia Davis

The scene as Georgia was removed from her home and loaded into an ambulance yesterday

Yesterday, the teenager remained in her private room at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales.

Mrs Davis and Georgia’s 74-year-old step-father said she was ‘doing fine’, though she is said to have been ‘stressed’ by the ordeal.

But Mrs Davis refused to talk about her condition in detail.

She has previously said of Georgia’s weight: ‘I feel guilty, of course I do.’

In an interview, she said she and her daughter had started comfort eating after her husband Geoff died when Georgia was five.

Ambulance men, paramedics, contractors from RCT homes, police, firemen, social workers all helped in the operation

A bridge was also built from the roadside to the top floor with between 30 to 40 people involved in the operation

But she said she had later made a determined effort to change their diets – such as making her own chips instead of buying them from the takeaway.

She said in the interview: ‘I wish I could turn back the clock. But if you’ve never had food addiction, you can’t understand. You try to fight it but it’s like a drug.’

In the past, she has spoken of eating ‘a couple of loaves-worth of sandwiches filled with jam or cheese or meat’ every day.

This was in addition to five bags of cheese and onion crisps, two packets of chocolate bourbons, sponge cake, trifle chocolate cake, and four sausages with mashed potato and baked beans for dinner, as well as fizzy drinks.

The cost of removing Georgia is likely to run into tens of thousands of pounds to cover manpower, plus the emergency call-out and the reconstruction of the demolished walls

The operation began just after 9am, and she was seen leaving the scene in an ambulance just after 5pm

Neighbours said she was thought to now weigh 63 stone, but added that it was impossible to know her true weight as it would require a specialist scale to measure.

Friends and family said they were praying her condition would not deteriorate further. One said yesterday: ‘It had got to the stage where she couldn’t get out of bed, nurses were visiting her every day to turn her over and wash her.

‘We are all hoping and praying that she pulls through and somehow can be put on the road to leading a normal life.’

A 40-strong team of builders, scaffolders and crew from all three emergency services was involved in the complex operation to remove Georgia from her home on Thursday.

Georgia lost 15 stone after her visit to a U.S. weight loss camp (left) but was piling on the pounds by September last year (right)

Georgia Davis, aged 17, was weighing around 40st. Pictured with her mother Lesley

As well as knocking down walls, they built a temporary ramp from the first floor of the house to the pavement to get her out, while local traffic had to be diverted.

It was the first time Georgia had left the house in over six months. Now Mrs Davis is said to be hoping to move into a new bungalow near their home – at taxpayers’ expense – so her daughter can be taken to hospital more easily.

Georgia has battled to bring down her weight for several years, attending ‘boot-camps’ abroad and trying to improve her health at her local gym.

Three years ago Georgia managed to lose half her body weight after attending a £3,600-a-month weight loss camp in the US.

Her mother says Georgia was always a large child, pictured here eating a lolly as a toddler

Early signs: Georgia was an overweight toddler, and the rapid growth has continued to this day

But after returning home she struggled to stick to her 1,500-calories-a-day diet.

She also took up a strict exercise plan at a women’s gym in a nearby street, but gave up because she could not cope with the two-mile distance there and back.

At the time, she told friends on Facebook: ‘I’ve got a personal trainer and life coach, I’ve got the help now, this is why it’s going to work. I want to do it now.

‘But I refuse to believe that from my house to the bottom of Monk Street is just one mile.’

She also failed to stick to the small portions of a £240-a-month controlled meal plan, telling friends: ‘I’m coming off this diet – you can only try things and this one failed. This diet is not for me but at least I tried.’

A hospital spokesman said yesterday: ‘This young lady has had a settled night and has been seen this morning by the consultant in charge of her care.

‘Initial assessments have been undertaken and she will be undergoing further assessment during the day to assist in her plan of care.’